Page 33 - ACTL Journal_Sum24

The impacts of climate change on the water supplies of our state aren’t something that are in our future; they are here today and have been here for a couple of decades already.
Our water use since 1957 has gone down by three percent; our population up 550 percent; our economic output up over 2,000 percent.
So where does water come from in our state? The Colorado River is the bulk of our renewable water supplies, 36 percent. Our in-state rivers provide us with 18 percent. We still are very heavily reliant upon groundwater. Most of that groundwater being used is not renewable; it is fossil groundwater that is being mined. Five percent of our use comes from reclaimed water, treated water that comes out of your shower
for example.
So who uses our water? Agriculture is still the major entity that uses water in our state, 72 percent. Municipal use is 22 percent and then industrial use is 6 percent. Industrial use includes things like golf courses, dairies, and cattle feed lots.
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